No comments

Darren Kiner

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
Darren Kiner – CGI Lighter / Compositor / Supervisor.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Optical Effects for a surf film, before moving to LA. I also worked my way through college as a busboy. Sorry, not very crazy.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Aladdin, Iron Giant, Fantasia 2000, Thirteen Days, Charlie Wilson’s War (the last two being somewhat historically relevant).

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
Escondido, CA – UCSD Film School – Lucky to Continue reading

One Comment

Tom Sito

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
My name is Tom Sito and I am an animator, storyboard artist and animation historian. My screen credits include Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, and Osmosis Jones. I am the author of four books on animation. Currently I am a Professor of Animation at the cinema school of the University of Southern California.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I am from Brooklyn New York, the son of a fireman. As a child I always liked to draw cartoons and at first I thought I’d want to make comic strips. Then I attended the High School of Art & Design in Manhattan where I was shown how to make my characters move. I fell in love and Continue reading

2 Comments

Ben Rush

  By
What is your name and your current occupation? 
Supervising Animator at DreamWorks Animation.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
Sprinkler trench digger, Nordstrom Café busboy, parking garage number painter.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Kung Fu Panda and Panda 2, Turbo, Animatrix: Final Flight of the Osiris.

 

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?

I grew up in the Santa Cruz mountains in Los Gatos, CA.  I always loved animation- the idea that these draftsmen and women could move drawings to create life was completely mystifying to me.  Looking at rough Disney pencil tests put me over the moon.  And in the Continue reading

No comments

John Kafka

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
John Kafka; Supervising Director, Action Dad TV Series at Toonzone Studios

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I worked on a seed corn farm in Wisconsin, which grew different varieties of corn for various locations around the world. The soil was engineered to match the soil of parts of Africa, South America, Russia…lots of places. I detasselled ears of corn, which involved cutting off cornsilks one at a time off thousands of cornstalks…blisteringly hot, lots of bugs, and cornstalk leaves are sharp-edged enough to be used as weapons. I also stood in the bottom of a grain silo as a conveyor belt fed thousands of pounds of corn kernels through a hole in the top, which poured down onto me. I directed the torrent with a big double-handled metal disc held over my head which I kept turning so that the entire silo was filled levelly. The trick was to step up onto the gradually rising pile of corn until the silo was full. Every ten minutes or so, somebody would look down into the silo to make sure I hadn’t been buried alive or choked on the dust. Hot, no air, the noise was deafening as the corn fell 44 feet at first… Worst. Job. EVER. Staying up all night animating is an absolute piece of cake by comparison.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I directed some of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, animated lots of pretty good commercials, animated on the Smurfs, produced music videos, directed a Disney Direct To DVD that did pretty well, co-directed a CG feature film out of Continue reading

No comments

Bobby Khounphaysane

  By

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What is your name and your current occupation?
My Name is Bobby Khounphaysane (Koon-pie-san) and I am a 2d animator & Character Designer (with some storyboarding and background designs mixed in there) for DipDive Animation owned by Will.I.AM, which we are in the process of launching soon in the next few months or so.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I used to work at a box factory and received a crazy amount of box cuts on my arm doing assembly line.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Let’s see, there’s actually been a few, but the ones that popped into my head was getting the chance to do a Nick Halloween commercial. It was a 5 second spot and the segment was done all in Toon Boom traditionally, which was fun (and tiring) to do! Another was heading a pilot show where I got to helm the designs from the get go, from characters, to storyboarding, and backgrounds.

How did you become interested in animation? 
I became interested in animation ever since I was a wee lad, watching Saturday morning cartoons like Thundercats, GI Joe, and Transformers. From there, Continue reading

No comments

VIEWSTER TO LAUNCH SUBSCRIPTION BOX / DIGITAL SERVICE

  By
VIEWSTER TO LAUNCH SUBSCRIPTION BOX / DIGITAL SERVICE
With Exclusive Gold-Foil ‘Kill la Kill’ Hardcover

Special gold-foil cover edition of ‘Kill la Kill’ manga

Online video service Viewster will launch Omakase, its new subscription box/streaming service with an exclusive gold-foil hardcover edition of the Kill la Kill manga.  With Omakase, inspired by “chef’s choice,” Viewster is employing a clever new twist on the subscription box phenomenon by bundling a bi-monthly box of unique merchandise with an online subscription to ad-free Viewster video content.   Exclusive digital content will also be added, including min-EP albums featuring new music from popular artists and original comics by well-known creators.

Detail of back cover of gold-foil cover edition

’Omakase,’ a term seen on sushi menus, “is when you let the chef make a selection of sushi for you, and that’s what Omakase by Viewster is all about,” Viewster USA CEO Rob Pereyda explained.  “Everything together – the video, the merchandise, and the digital goodies – makes up Omakase.  Just like a patron to a nice sushi restaurant would trust the chef, we hope that fans will ‘leave it to us’ in the same way.”The theme of the first box, scheduled for this fall, is Kill la Kill, anchored by the exclusive gold-foil manga volume.  Future boxes may be anchored around single IPs, or general themes, such as “back to school.”

The initial launch, with the two-month subscription priced at $25 plus shipping and handling, will be for customers in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

You can read the whole article here.